Salisbury mayor’s message: Charting a new course

As the new Mayor of the City of Salisbury, I want to thank everyone who afforded me this great honor. As I have just completed my 18th week in the office, I have embraced a huge learning curve, and I am excited about the vision I hope to unfold. My platform for Mayor was quite simple, “Progress with Transparency.”

These last 18 weeks have underscored the need for that practical approach. I have found having looked under the hood of modern-day government, a built-in resistance to transparency is the norm.

Equally as important, we must fan the flames of progress but stave off the path of “progress” at any cost. Specifically, progress with regrets, with unfounded premises, that lead to legacy costs and create herculean problems over time. Said differently, perceived progress which is bullied and cajoled to appear in the best interest of the whole but really designed to serve the interests of a few either political or financial is actually going backwards. As a taxpayer, it is my hope you will find no greater fighter in that battle than this mayor.

As I have been getting up to speed on dozens of issues and projects in the City, my most pressing issue to resolve is the budget. Simply put, to cure the troubling financial trajectory Salisbury has been on for about 6 years.

The revenues and the expenses of the City of Salisbury have grown 60% during this period. A rate of increase which is three times the rate of inflation. The composition of those increased revenues is varied. First, the prior administration raised the effective tax rate four times in the last 9 years which has placed us the highest in the county and in the top municipal property tax rates in the state at $1.03/$100 of assessed value.

Second, expansion of the tax base in new construction but a more meaningful component is the increase in revenues which came simply from a soaring rise in assessed values. Values which by all indications are likely to remain stubbornly level for the next 3- 5 years and afford us far less, if any, meaningful increased revenue.

While growing tax revenues is certainly good, management of that growth is critical to overall health and sustainability. Generating fixed costs of government that are chasing unsustainable revenue growth soon outpaces the “normal” rate of growth which cannot be sustained without a correction. Many of our fixed costs have taken on that trajectory to include a newly established union founded by the prior administration. Many of these expenses were subsidized with Covid-funding which is no longer flowing. In this former banker’s opinion, the time for course correction is ringing the doorbell like your neighbor who has something very important to tell you.

Beyond the budget, I have been inundated with concerns over bike lanes, much-needed infrastructure needs, deferred sidewalk repairs, giveaway land deals involving city assets, proposed Downtown projects crowding without viable parking plans and the list goes on. All these battles and conversations started before I arrived in office, however, I am fully prepared to lead that process and hopefully dramatically improve the quality and direction of prior iterations.

Salisbury has a great deal of forces at play right now. Political forces, financial forces, forces who are attempting to try and pull the levers of power. Not an atypical scenario for a small town like Salisbury. However, the most powerful but untapped force is the taxpayers who provide the everyday work, maintain the homes, pay the taxes, support the businesses and choose Salisbury to call home. People who have raised their kids, been a part of this community – many for generations, for which I am one.

To all of you, I am hard at work serving what I believe are your interests and to the extent you can, I vigorously invite you to participate in that process. We need you! More importantly, I want to hear from you!

Let's be clear! Details matter! Doing your homework matters! More importantly, leadership matters and while it must include great enthusiasm and vision, it cannot leave behind a healthy and duly required component of common sense rooted in real experience.

Let me again put a few things on the record. I am FOR development. I am also FOR infrastructure and beautification. I am FOR growth and incentives which make sense. I am FOR a dynamic Salisbury. I am also FOR sensible policies and initiatives that have a contribution to all.

As Mayor, I recognize there is a role in government to assist in all those efforts which I am happy to help deploy. However, no matter what the pitch offered by the shiny-toothed salesman, no ill-conceived plan can outrun a good calculator. Math always has a way of crashing the party and settling the matter. I am for healthy growth, and a dynamic Salisbury which makes economic sense. If the subject proposal meets those goals, this mayor will be its biggest fan. If it does not, I offer no apologies – prepare for a fight.

As I have said from the start of this journey, my goals as your mayor are quite simple. First, be open, honest and transparent. Second, to deploy sound financial decision-making and common-sense policies in Salisbury and allow it to continue to grow, and prosper. To all taxpayers, I promise to fill my plate every day with things I hope to fulfill those goals.

Again, I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to serve you as the 30th Mayor of Salisbury. I hope to continue to make you proud. Please feel free to reach out to me at rtaylor@salisbury.md I would love to hear from you, Salisbury needs your voice.